Public "Art"

[prarieboy]

I visited Mexico City on business and expected to find a sprawling run down city. I was blown away by the amount of art, fountains etc. that were present in the areas I visited. A very cosmopolitan city in that regard. The people who are deciding our Art projects should pull there heads out of their backsides because it seems to me they just don't have any idea what the people who fund these projects really want to to look at each day.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Disliking the piece isn't the issue. What makes Calgarians look bad is treating it as a civic scandal.

When the city installs something that is almost universally loathed as soon as it goes up, but meant to welcome people as they arrive in the city, I would say that it does actually qualify as a "civic scandal".

I mean both you and Tinordi are in this thread arguing your own superiority like strutting peacocks, and yet, neither of you were even able to spare a word of appreciation for it. That's how bad this thing is.

[The Familia]

Originally Posted by Sliver

We don't need zero-maintenance steel, though. Just paint it so it looks good. Cor-ten is motha fataing hideous and we have too much of it trashing up our city already.

I agree that Cor-ten is a terrible product. Everyday I wish all the streetlights and traffic signals that are still the ugly brown rusted poles will fall over. Whoever thought those looked good needs a kick in the junk. The only thing I like that is Cor-ten is poppy plaza as it kind of has a World War, old, historic, feel to it. I get the idea for the rust look of that plaza, not for anything else.

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by The Familia

I agree that Cor-ten is a terrible product. Everyday I wish all the streetlights and traffic signals that are still the ugly brown rusted poles will fall over. Whoever thought those looked good needs a kick in the junk. The only thing I like that is Cor-ten is poppy plaza as it kind of has a World War, old, historic, feel to it. I get the idea for the rust look of that plaza, not for anything else.

The Picasso sculpture in Chicago is Cor-ten...



I think the material is not as important as the piece itself. I'd take a rusty old Picasso any day.

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Disliking the piece isn't the issue. What makes Calgarians look bad is treating it as a civic scandal.

Why does that make us look bad? Are we unappreciative of great art? The artist playing the "indigenous card" looks really bad.

[Amethyst]

While the type of pieces they are choosing may not be the best, I wouldn't want to live in a city that spent nothing on aesthetics / art and only paid for the basic functional necessities. I've lived in places like that. They are not enjoyable.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Amethyst

While the type of pieces they are choosing may not be the best, I wouldn't want to live in a city that spent nothing on aesthetics / art and only paid for the basic functional necessities. I've lived in places like that. They are not enjoyable.

Again I really don't think anyone here is arguing the money. People generally accept that an art budget is a good thing.

When you blow your art budget on junk (read: construction rubble) people get up in arms, as they should. It's a hideous piece, and if I were Blackfoot, I would be offended that the artist tried to pass this junk off as some Blackfoot cultural piece.

Hint to the artist: four seasons aren't exclusive to the Blackfoot people of southern Alberta.

[Amethyst]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Again I really don't think anyone here is arguing the money. People generally accept that an art budget is a good thing.

Hmm.... I don't think that is true, but perhaps that is the case in this thread. It blew up while I was away and I didn't read all 12 pages. It seems like this argument comes up every time the city purchases artwork though.

[Resolute 14]

The Tsuut'ina aren't happy with the lack of consultation.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by prarieboy

I visited Mexico City on business and expected to find a sprawling run down city. I was blown away by the amount of art, fountains etc. that were present in the areas I visited. A very cosmopolitan city in that regard. The people who are deciding our Art projects should pull there heads out of their backsides because it seems to me they just don't have any idea what the people who fund these projects really want to to look at each day.

Just spent a few days in Ottawa and Montreal - public art is everywhere and very enriching.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by troutman

Just spent a few days in Ottawa and Montreal - public art is everywhere and very enriching.

I doubt any of it is as nice as the Bowfort towers.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I doubt any of it is as nice as the Bowfort towers.

But nothing will match the quality art found in Saskatoon: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...-art-1.2617828

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

But nothing will match the quality art found in Saskatoon: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...-art-1.2617828

LoL. At least our pile of garbage is welded together I guess.

[Resolute 14]

But maybe that is what CliffFletcher was getting at? Calgary should be proud of its garbage art if it brings us closer to world class cities like Saskatoon?

[octothorp]

I personally wish that public art projects were more integrated in the project that they're associated with. I like the Glenmore fish, not because they're obvious and literal, but because they don't feel like they were tacked on as a public art component on the outside of the project (they may have been, but if so the artists did a great job integrating them). The blue ring, and (based simply on the photos I've seen), this project definitely do have that tacked on feel to them. Wonderland outside the Bow is great not only because it's a great standalone sculpture, but because the whole site treats the sculpture as a focal point.

Or, you get rid of the requirement of having public art as a component of these various projects, and instead centralize it in a sculpture park that the way that Chicago does (but then you'd get people from various neighbourhoods complaining that money on art isn't being spent in their neighbourhoods).

[puckedoff]

You guys need to have some more civic pride. Its OUR great blue ring. Its OUR Bowfort Rock Rubble. Its OURS and it exists in the best city in the world. Lots of musicians confirm this when they travel through town.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by puckedoff

You guys need to have some more civic pride. Its OUR great blue ring. Its OUR Bowfort Rock Rubble. Its OURS and it exists in the best city in the world. Lots of musicians confirm this when they travel through town.

We're #1! We're #1!

[Minnie]

Geist really should have consulted with DiCaprio about an art piece for Calgary.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

LoL. At least our pile of garbage is welded together I guess.

I'm not sure having to live with it forever is a bonus, Saskatoon gets to haul their garbage off to the dump (which also adds a level of irony to the piece I doubt the artist planned) in a month or two at least.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by puckedoff

You guys need to have some more civic pride. Its OUR great blue ring. Its OUR Bowfort Rock Rubble. Its OURS and it exists in the best city in the world. Lots of musicians confirm this when they travel through town.

This art is a part of us all. A part of us all. A part of us all!


I'm sorry to repeat myself but it will help you remember.

[Slava]

Anyone have any idea what kind of art will be near the 162/Macleod interchange? Is there somewhere that you can see the upcoming pieces for these projects or is it a wait and see sort of thing?